Start-up in the Spotlight: Deep Blue Globe

Deep Blue Globe (DGB) is a start-up based in Darmstadt, Germany, which develops artificial intelligence solutions for the maritime industry based on Earth observation data and satellite services.

By making use of data from Sentinel 3, especially the data provided by the Marine Copernicus Service, Deep Blue Globe has developed POSEIDON, a solution that optimises the routes of ships, saving them time and fuel on any kind of route, from regional to international journeys. POSEIDON is establishing autonomous maritime navigation powered by artificial intelligence that takes into account real-time maritime traffic and weather conditions.

While POSEIDON is a key enabler of future autonomous maritime navigation systems, the solution is currently offered to all kinds of existing maritime fleet operators (from shipping cargo, tankers, fisheries, ferries, and cruise liners to small operators and sailors), allowing them to navigate through the optimal route while solely making use of the existing ship infrastructure.

Deep Blue Globe is currently in the final testing stages for POSEIDON and it is looking for partners in the maritime industry to test the combination of the latest weather forecast data, fuel consumption and navigation information live in an operational environment.

Preview of Poseidon’s beta interface

The Team behind Deep Blue Globe

In 2017, Deep Blue Globe became part of the Copernicus Accelerator after its team members were nominated as finalists in two Copernicus Masters Challenges. In March 2018, Deep Blue Globe successfully applied to be incubated for a period of two years at the ESA Business Incubation Centre (BIC) Darmstadt in order to develop a commercial solution as part of the ESA Space Solutions catalogue.

Last but not least, in May 2018, Deep Blue Globe was officially announced as a member of the NVIDIA Inception Program, a programme dedicated to state-of-the-art start-ups who are revolutionising industries with advances in Artificial Intelligence and data science.

“Mario and Pablo have years of space technology experience, and it’s great to work alongside them towards goals like autonomous ship navigation. They’ve formed a truly innovative start-up that combines space data and entrepreneurship aimed at a large international market.

The DBG team combines two fast evolving innovations, firstly Earth observation data and more succinctly marine data, and secondly the tools to leverage, adapt and commercialise this data, such as algorithms, machine learning and deep learning.

It is an amazing experience to be working as a mentor for Mario and Pablo, and within the Copernicus Accelerator process, because I get to be part of a vibrant and challenging ecosystem of the latest Copernicus data in use for marine industry where the goals, from algorithms plotting courses across the oceans in any weather, to deep-learning assisted autonomous ship navigation, are disruptive forces that have lots of opportunities in other fields.”